Reduction and Elimination in Philosophy and the Sciences

An Anti-Reductionist Argument Based on Spinoza’s Naturalism — Nancy Brenner-Golomb
to use reason, so that they passively accept these leaders’
ideas, as if they necessarily provide the best way to satisfy
everybody’s desire to live according to their nature in
peace and security [Spinoza 1951 pp.215-216 and 313-
315]. Spinoza’s intention with developing his political
science was to show that the best way to satisfy this basic
desire was to design civil laws which would encourage
rationality and thereby prevent this behaviour of leaders.
But my purpose in this paper is only to show that, at least
when the study of the human mind is included in the
scientific project, it is impossible to maintain that a
structure has no effect on the structure of its elements.
This is because, as Spinoza maintained, to say that
something is natural does not mean that it cannot be
distorted [Spinoza 1979 pp.139-140]. For example by the
influence of the natural behaviour of leaders.
Literature
[the year of Spinoza’s books refer to the editions I used].
Cairns, J.: 1997. Matters of Life and Death, Princeton Univ. Press,
N.J.
Feynman R.: 1989. Lectures on Physics 1989. A Commemorative
Issue, edited by Leighton and Sands.
Spinosa: 1951, A Political Treatise (PT), Dover Publications Inc.
New York.
- A Theologico-Political Treatise (TPT), published together with
PT.
- 1966. Correspondence of Spinoza, translated and edited by A
Wolf, Frank Cass & Co.
- 1979. Ethics, Everyman's Library, Dutton: New York.
- Metaphysical Thoughts (MT), published with PCP.
- 1998. Principles of Cartesian Philosophy (PCP). Translation into
English by Samuel Shirley. Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis/Cambridge
- Treatise on the Correction of the Understanding, published together
with Ethics.
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